President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have signed a critical-minerals deal at the White House. The United States is eyeing Australia's rare-earth resources as China imposes stricter export rules on its critical minerals. Monday's White House meeting comes after Beijing announced this month that foreign companies must get approval to export magnets with rare-earth materials from China. Trump administration officials say this gives China control over the tech supply chain. The two leaders also discussed a security pact among Australia, the U.S. and the United Kingdom that was signed during Joe Biden's administration. Trump noted that AUKUS was established "a while ago" but that the agreement now is "moving along very rapidly, very well."

President Donald Trump says "there seems to be no reason" to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a "massive increase" of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi's moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is considering is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.

A deal this week will give the United States access to Ukraine's mineral wealth. The country has a number of minerals critical to manufacturing including titanium, lithium and uranium. A subset of these, rare earth metals, are also important for a number of economic areas including the clean energy transition. President Donald Trump, who has pushed for the agreement, has long been critical of a transition to green energies, including wind, solar and others, along with electrification of transportation and appliances. But the minerals Ukraine possesses are needed for aerospace, medical devices, specialty glass and hundreds of other uses, making access to them a priority for the first Trump administration as well as this one.